Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 68
The chief knew that ’Ndere was very dissatisfied at having a snake as a husband, and would probably be glad to marry him, although he was rather old, rather than continue to live with the python, providing the python could be got rid of.
Who acts: chief, Ndere, providing · What happens: know, be, have, marry, continue, live · To what, where: snake, Chief, python · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, Ndere, providing), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 chief | det |
| 2 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 knew | nsubj |
| 3 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 dissatisfied | mark |
| 5 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 9 dissatisfied | punct |
| 6 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 dissatisfied | nsubj |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 dissatisfied | cop |
| 8 | very | very | ADV | _ | 9 dissatisfied | advmod |
| 9 | dissatisfied | dissatisfied | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 knew | ccomp |
| 10 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 11 having | mark |
| 11 | having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 dissatisfied | advcl |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 snake | det |
| 13 | snake | snake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 having | obj |
| 14 | as | as | ADP | _ | 16 husband | case |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 husband | det |
| 16 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 having | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 glad | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 glad | cc |
| 19 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 glad | aux |
| 20 | probably | probably | ADV | _ | 22 glad | advmod |
| 21 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 22 glad | cop |
| 22 | glad | glad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 knew | parataxis |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 marry | mark |
| 24 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 glad | advcl |
| 25 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 marry | obj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 old | punct |
| 27 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 31 old | mark |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 old | nsubj |
| 29 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 old | cop |
| 30 | rather | rather | ADV | _ | 31 old | advmod |
| 31 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 glad | conj |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 continue | punct |
| 33 | rather | rather | ADV | ExtPos=CCONJ | 35 continue | cc |
| 34 | than | than | ADP | _ | 33 rather | fixed |
| 35 | continue | continue | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 old | advcl |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 live | mark |
| 37 | live | live | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 continue | xcomp |
| 38 | with | with | ADP | _ | 40 python | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 python | det |
| 40 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 live | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 providing | punct |
| 42 | providing | provide | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 47 got | csubj:pass |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 python | det |
| 44 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 providing | obj |
| 45 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 47 got | aux |
| 46 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 47 got | aux:pass |
| 47 | got | get | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 glad | parataxis |
| 48 | rid | rid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 got | xcomp |
| 49 | of | of | ADP | _ | 48 rid | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 knew | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | know | past | the chief | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 2 | is | past | Ndere | dissatisfied property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | have | gerund | Ndere not said here | a snake | as a husband | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snake=Patient | |||
| 4 | is | would | glad, probably property | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | marry | to-infinitive | Chief | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | |||||
| 6 | is | past | Chief | old property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | continue | infinitive | Chief not said here | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 8 | live | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | with the python | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with python=Location | ||||
| 9 | provide | gerund | the python | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition python=Theme | |||||
| 10 | get | could · passive | providing | rid property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING» |
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.
Text: «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/24/68/